Shoe Company Temporarily Becomes Job Center On Labor Day

DENVER (CBS4) - Labor Day is a time to celebrate the American worker, but this year, more than 25 million Americans are spending this Monday unemployed. Rather than close for the holiday, Red Wing Shoe Company used the day to help people get back to work.

"A lot of people out there working in manufacturing, construction and warehousing are out of work today. We wondered how can we use our website, how can we use our assets and our social media to get the community of all employers to rally around us?" said Dave Schneider, chief marketing officer at Red Wing Shoe Company.

Red Wing Shoes Company says they make boots for workers who built America. With so many of those workers out of a job, the company decided to turn its 525 stores into job centers on Labor Day. They have several locations in the Denver metro area.

"You can walk into any one of those stores today and you can see job listings in the skilled trades, outside of Red Wing, that are happening in that local market," said Schneider. Red Wing also turned its customer-service line into a job search hotline.

Red Wing says its focus is on jobs in skilled trades, the industries that keep America running. The temporary job centers were part of their campaign, #LaborDayOn. Big brands like New Balance and General Mills are just a few of the companies flooding social media with the hashtag, posting information about open job opportunities.

Schneider says these types of jobs aren't always well advertised, and can be tough to find.  Labor Day On is Red Wing's way of honoring the skilled workers that "Labor Day" is meant to celebrate.

"We're trying to amplify and give greater visibility to what these jobs are because we know a lot of people are out of work today," said Schneider. "We have an opportunity to take back the original meaning of labor day and help our core consumer."

Job seekers can still follow the hashtag #LaborDayOn on social media to be connected with job opportunities.